When We Were Married Ch. 06C

"I don't know Dave. Maybe I should sit in on-"

"Shit, Bill, you put in about 90 hours a week as it is. You've got other stuff on your plate. Look, I'll have Gary Matthews sit in with me and I won't do anything. I'll call or email you over the weekend and tell her we can't do anything until Monday, so you'll have the final say if you really have doubts about all this. Okay?"

I did have a hell of a lot of other stuff to wade through. I was a little bit curious about Paula Donnally after what Gil Tucker had said, but I guess after you've seen one fucking cheating slut, and I had been married to her, you didn't need to see any more. Alright, I know that didn't apply to my former wife exactly, but there were still plenty of times when I felt like it did. However, if Gil Tucker was right, Paula Donnally was in another category altogether.

"Okay, hey, didn't your kids have that softball game this evening. I thought you said you had promised Darlene that you'd get off on time for a change."

If there was anyone in the world who was more married than I had been, it would have to be Brandon. His wife wasn't the hottest woman I'd ever seen. She'd put on weight after three kids, but love is blind. Brandon doted on her and his 16-year-old son and two seven-year-old twin girls. Just knowing there were marriages like his around made me feel better.

"I'll make it in plenty of time. The game is under the lights and it doesn't start until 6. I've been promising Darlene I'd get off earlier. It shouldn't take more than an hour, two hours to finish up with Ms. Donnally and then I'll be out of here."

I finished by 7:30 p.m. and called down to Brandon's office but there was no answer. I had gone by Myra's earlier but she had plans with -- female -- friends she'd already made.

"I'm a little hurt that you'd go out with female friends when you have a chance to be wined and dined by an internationally famous legal superstar," I told her, making sure to smile so she'd know that I knew this was all bullshit.

"These are two of my oldest friends, Bill," she said, bending forward to make sure I got a nice view of world-class cleavage. "I don't have many female friends, for obvious reasons. I know you better than to think you don't understand that. They're in town this weekend so can we have a raincheck till next week?"

Thinking of Lew Walters and Gil Tucker, and how empty my life would have been if there had been nobody like one of them in it when my life crashed and burned, I said, "Yeah, I do understand. Have a good time. I'll just take a lot of cold showers."

By the time I made it by the gym and got out and grabbed a late coffee it was past 10 p.m. I hit the Liberty Street condo, I could never call it home, and watched a little late night television. It would never be home, but it wasn't the empty Hellish chamber it had once been. or maybe it was just me that had changed.

Saturday I popped over to the Bascombs, had coffee with Cathy and Roy and talked Kelly into going out for breakfast at an IHOP. I built up at least a three-hour exercise debt I needed to pay to work off the calories, but it was worth it. We could talk now and I learned a little about all the terrible and wonderful things that were happening in a beautiful 18-year-old's life. Oddly, I felt closer to her than I had when we had been living under the same roof.

BJ was off on an overnight with a friend so I was at a loose end. I called Heather McDonald and Meagan Whitcomb but couldn't reach either of them, so I wound up driving over to St. Augustine. I walked the beach, threw popcorn to the seagulls until an avian riot broke out, and sat in the dunes that night watching the stars, wondering exactly where Paris was on the night horizon in front of me.

I was back to the condo by 11 p.m. As I turned on the television and grabbed a Diet 7 Up, it hit me. I looked around the small and by now familiar rooms as I had the night before. It would never be home, but it was really me that was changing. I was getting used to this life, this lonely life. Deep down I'd never really thought that would happen, yet it had. I didn't know if that made me glad, or sad.

October 10, 2005 -- MONDAY - 9 a.m.

I had hit the gym early in the morning and got in only at 8:45 a.m. I was involved in paperwork on four upcoming cases when Dave Brandon walked in. He seemed a little nervous, but otherwise the same old Dave I'd known for more than 10 years.

"You didn't e-mail me or call me, Dave. I was expecting to hear the outcome of your meet. Was she lying through her teeth or do you think she might have faked the charge?"

"Gary and I did our damnedest to shake her. I threatened to have her taken out in handcuffs after we arrested her for filing a fraudulent criminal charge, told her it was a felony, that we made an example of people that filed those kind of fake charges and that she'd serve AT LEAST a year in the county jail - nothing! She swore up and down she had faked it, gave us the name and phone number of the guy she said she had called who came by and did the fake strangling.

"We grilled her for two hours and still couldn't shake her. She's either a complete sociopath who has no concept of the difference between truth and lies, or she's the greatest actress in the history of the world."

"So you believe her?"

He sat across from me, rubbed his chin and thought about it. Then he grabbed his ear and tugged it as he thought some more. He hadn't come to any snap judgements. This was something he had thought about. There was something else, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Maybe he had doubts about what he was going to say, or second thoughts.

"Yeah, bottom line, Bill, I guess I do. I, uh, in a way I guess I wouldn't blame the poor bastard if he had tried to kill her. You'd have to see this woman, Bill. I always thought Debbie was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen, except for Myra Martinez of course, but Paula Donnally is - I don't even know if a description would do her justice. You'd have to be in the room with her. She has a, presence, I guess, that's hard to describe."

I looked at him in amazement. This didn't even sound like the man I'd worked with for a decade.

"You didn't fall in love with her, did you?"

He almost physically jumped when I said that and gave me a guilty look. Jesus Christ! She HAD gotten to him.

He laughed and even the laugh sounded fake.

"No, of course not. If anything, I might have fallen in lust for a few hours. I've never even thought about, other women, like that. Except, but if I wasn't married, God knows if I wouldn't have hit on her. But, what I was trying to say is, I can understand that poor bastard being devastated when he learned what she's been up to, for almost a decade, she said. She said when she finally faced him and admitted what had been going on, he didn't get violent. He went catatonic, she said, just froze and wouldn't talk to her, then walked out."

"So why would he confess to trying to kill his wife and ask to be kept behind bars."

"She said he found out what was going on almost a month ago and she's been trying to meet with him face to face to talk, to put an end to their marriage. She said she wants out, but he's been ducking and dodging. He managed to avoid her until this past weekend and it's like he blacked out and just wouldn't listen to her tell him she wanted out, wanted a divorce. I think he's using us as just another way to avoid facing the truth about his wife and his marriage."

I leaned back in my chair, watching him.

"I don't know if we shouldn't help him out, for a little while. He's too dangerous. Even if he didn't attack her, he could kill her in a few seconds if he wanted to."

He shook his head again.

"He might be dangerous to others, but you heard what August said. The guy has NO criminal history. He's never raised a hand against anybody, until the other night in the jail - and that was in self defense. Paula says that he never even looked like he was going to attack her that night. She said he just pissed her off so bad when he walked out on her that she lost it and decided she was going to fry his ass and get him tossed into jail on that fake assault charge. She's not worried about his actually physically attacking her."

So now it was 'Paula' and not 'Mrs. Donnally.' Now I was beginning to regret that I hadn't sat in on the meeting. This woman had to be something else to affect a man like Dave Brandon, and his theory that Donnally had never lifted a finger against anyone else was horse shit, but I couldn't tell him about the day that Doug and I had our little go-round at UNF.

"Bottom line, I don't think he's any danger to his wife. I think the charge was faked, I think we're incurring legal liability the longer we hold him and I think we ought to get Martin to immediately lift the million dollar cash bond. Paula said she'd bond him out the minute we do that. All she wants is to sit down with him, and he can have an attorney hired by his friend Gil Tucker. She just wants to get some closure on her marriage, get him to agree that it's over."

"What should we do about Mrs. Donnally? She's admitting to filing a false police report and that's what started this whole mess?"

He looked at me and grinned.

"If you can guarantee me a jury of 6 women, all of them straight, I might take her to trial, but if you have one straight guy and/or lesbian, I don't think you'll ever convict her."

"She's that hot?"

"You'd have to have seen her in person, but yes."

"You think Matthews would agree with your assessment?"

"Yes, we talked after she left the office."

"What time did she leave?"

"About...5...I think. Look, the longer we hold this guy, the more risk we take. I really think we need to cut this guy loose. I know the mayhem at the jail looks bad, but he was attacked."

I leaned back and thought about things.

"How'd your son's game go?"

"What?"

He looked at me as if he hadn't understood my words.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about something else. You told me once that Jerry was a promising pitcher. He threw a no-hitter once. How did he do Friday night?"

"Oh, he had an okay game. He struck out all but four batters and only allowed two runs. Pretty good game for him, but not his best. Anyway, unless you have a real strong problem with it, I'm going to pop down to Martin's office and ask him to remove the cash bond. Donnally can be let out on his own recognizance or a pretty low bond."

"Why don't you wait, Dave. Let me think about it for just a little while longer. Let's say I'll get back to you in an hour. I'm pretty sure I'll cut him loose, but I just have some, reservations. I know you've been in that situation before. Just let me get my head straight, okay?"

"Sure, but I'll send Martin's office a heads-up that we will probably be down there this morning."

After he'd walked out I just stared at the door for a few minutes. I knew and trusted Dave Brandon but I remembered what had stuck in my mind watching him. I'd played poker with him at a couple of friendly games and anybody who played regularly knew that he had a 'tell' or unconscious tic he displayed when he was bluffing - he pulled on his right ear. No one had ever told him about it because people loved taking his money. He never did figure out why he always lost at poker.

Then there was that 'Paula.' Dave was a formal kind of guy so it should have been 'Mrs. Donnally.' Finally, Dave was the patron saint of proud Papas. Usually you had to come up with some reason to shut him up when he started going on about how great a baseball player his son was. It sounded today like his son's game was an afterthought.

I went through my phone list in my computer and dialed a number. It rang a half dozen times before a voice came on the phone. After I got off the phone I sat at my desk for thirty minutes thinking about what I'd learned. I couldn't believe what I'd learned, but it was all starting to make sense. It made me feel like shit. Why was it ALWAYS bad news in this business.

Even when we won a few, it was in the aftermath of cleaning up terrible crimes that left lives ruined and hearts broken. It was the nature of the game we played. We were the clean up crew that came along in the aftermath to clean up the chaos that was the dark side of life. I had to be grateful for justice, not happy endings.

I walked down one flight of stairs. I could have taken the elevator, but I was putting off what I knew I was going to have to say and do.

I approached Sally Evans. She smiled and said, "He's waiting for you, Mr. Maitland."

I walked into his office and closed the door behind me. At that point I think he knew. I sat down and we just stared at each other for a few moments.

"What the hell did you do, Dave? What did you do?"

"What you think, Bill, but it's not what you think. I didn't do anything illegal. Unethical, maybe. Suicidal but not illegal."

"You had sex with a fucking victim, Dave. A woman who by definition is under stress and in a position to be manipulated by you. You had sex with a woman who wants a very big favor from this office, and I'll bet she expects after you fucked her brains out that she'd get it. That's why you were so hot to get the cash bond reduced or eliminated so Donnally could get out, wasn't it?"

"She never asked for anything, Bill. We never talked about it. It just happened."

"What'd she do, Dave, just walk up to you without words and start blowing you? Jesus Christ, where did your brain go? If Darlene ever even has a suspicion about this! I've met her, I know the kind of woman she is. She's Assembly of God, isn't she? She will divorce your ass in a heartbeat."

He looked into my eyes as if trying to read what I was going to do.

"If the Big Man ever hears of this - maybe you didn't do it deliberately, but it sure as hell looks like you blackmailed a distressed wife into fucking you by holding her husband's freedom over her head as payment for services rendered. You didn't promise her anything? Please God, tell me you didn't offer her a deal."

"You still don't get it, Bill. You think you know what happened, but you have no idea. God, I wish it had happened the way you think it did."

I was trying to figure out what he was trying to say. How could it be anything different than what I thought it was. He wouldn't be the first man in a position of power to succumb to the temptation to use that power to get between a hot woman's legs. I'd never succumbed because I always had a hotter woman waiting at home for me.

"How did you know, Bill?"

"Not that it matters, and I'll never be able to play poker with you again, but you always tug on your ear when you're bluffing -- make that lying - and you were talking too casually about 'Paula.' Shit, I could look at you and tell you were in love, so to speak. Last, but not least, you just didn't brag enough about Jerry's baseball game. So, I called Darlene to congratulate her on Jerry's great game and she told me you were working late and didn't get home until after 11. She was really pissed at me for sticking you with late night work when you'd been with the office longer than I've been."

"You didn't let anything slip?"

"No, I apologized for letting my bachelor status blind me to the fact that the guys who are still married have lives outside the office. I was so good that Darlene asked me if I could make it to a party you guys are hosting next weekend. She's got a divorced friend she wants me to meet."

For a moment I'd been able to forget what I was down here for.

"How did it happen and have you compromised this office? Is she liable to go to a television station if we don't spring Donnally, go and complain about sexual harassment by one of the top office Assistants?"

He shook his head. He stared at a globe on his desk that contained a hula dancer who would wiggle her luscious ass in a metronomic display if you shook the globe up. It was the most risque thing in his life, or had been. Even knowing what had happened, I still couldn't believe it.

"I didn't know what to expect, Bill, honest to God. I figured she was probably pretty hot. For a guy to get that whacked out you wouldn't expect Suzy Homemaker, but when she walked in it was like I said - you had to be there! Long black hair, eyes you could fall into and a body that - she had a body! I looked at her and started getting hard. Thank God I was sitting down. Matthews was standing; he just gave me this grin and then he looked at her. She just looked down at his dick, which was already popping up. Just looked, but damn...."

He stopped, then gave me an embarrassed look.

"I knew it was getting out of hand. That just wasn't me. Matthews is single and I hear he's a real pussy hound, but even he....anyway, I tried to get it back to a more businesslike meeting. We talked for nearly an hour and she said everything I'd expected her to say. I tried to talk to her and explain your concerns, how dangerous this guy could be, how dangerous he'd already been and we didn't believe a damned word of that fairy tale she was trying to sell us.

"All the while we were talking, Matthews kept staring at her tits and then at her legs. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife; she was telling us how much she loved her husband but, the way she looked at you....! The only way I can describe it is, the summer before I met Darlene, a friend's sister came into town and he asked me to take her out with him on a double date.

"I thought she'd be - you know - a pity date, but she was 5 foot eight and blonde and had absolutely huge tits and from the first moment I laid eyes on her I knew we'd be in bed before the night was over. I don't remember where we went to eat, the club we went to. Shit, I might have been sleepwalking. We didn't even make it back to my place. We walked out to my car. I was so hard I could barely stand up straight.

I sat down in the driver's seat. She came over to the driver's side and adjusted the seat as far back as it would go and she sat down in my lap facing me. She unzipped me and I realized a second later she'd taken her panties off and she slid right down on me. I fucked her, or she fucked me, in the parking lot of the club. People were around us, hell, her brother might have walked by. I neither noticed nor cared. The cops could have come up and busted us for public indecency and I wouldn't have cared."

He looked at me, coming back from the memory.

"It was the greatest sexual experience of my life until last Friday. I love Darlene. We have what I thought was great sex but, the one night I spent with my friend's sister was...special."

"Anyway, sitting in my office with Sally outside and people walking by, even though the door was closed, the sexual tension was as strong. I had to keep remembering why we were here. I kept looking at the photo of Darlene and kids on my desk, as if it could keep me - safe!

"I forgot what I was saying. She looked at Gary's crotch, then over at me and licked her lips - just licked her lips! I'll never forget what happened next.

" 'This is silly, Mr. Brandon,' she said. 'We both know what's going to happen, all three of us do. I want it as bad as you two , so we're wasting valuable time'. She stood up. She's not that tall and she's really slender, fine boned I guess is the expression, but she has an ass, and those breasts! She's not in Debbie's league, or Myra's, but she's so slender they just seem too....big for her body. She walked around the desk, knelt down beside me, reached out and put her hand....on me. I'm not making excuses. I could have stopped her - I should have! I was in a daze, wondering how this woman, who I've only known for an hour, could be kneeling down in front of me, rubbing me, then unzipping and pulling me out, squeezing and then sucking - yet I didn't try to stop her!"